From The Hockey News Archives: Red Revolution
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Red Revolution- June 19, 1998 - Vol. 60, Issue 32 - Bob DuffMotor City boys get greasy in 2007
The playoff picture painted by the Detroit Red Wings in recent springs was a work of capitulation. Like a frightened schoolboy, they willingly handed over their lunch money to the neighborhood bully.
Many expected history to repeat itself this spring.
“Let’s face it, they have a soft team,” said Don Cherry, star of Hockey Night In Canada’s Coach’s Corner, of the Wings on the eve of the playoffs. “There’s a lot of sweeties on that team.”
Sure, it was easy to make that argument. During the regular season, center Robert Lang and defenseman Mathieu Schneider shared the team lead in penalty minutes with a piddling 66.
Look a little harder, though and you’ll see these Wings, well, look a little harder. Just ask their two playoff victims, the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks.
“We played a team that was pretty relentless, that never gave up,” said Sharks coach Ron Wilson.
These aren’t the Red Wings who rolled over and played dead against Anaheim in 2003. Who were muscled out of existence by the Flames in 2004. And who surrendered so readily last spring to the Edmonton Oilers.
There’s been a cultural upheaval in Hockeytown. Gone are the days of the top-to-bottom offensive dynamos. This Red Wings team is filled with sandpaper and much harder to play against than recent playoff editions.
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If that sounds familiar, it should. Back in the early 1990s, the Wings were a highly skilled offensive team that dominated the regular season and regularly bowed out early in the playoffs.
They simply had too many of the same type of players – slick scorers and playmakers, but no one to go get the puck for them or score the dirty goals so vital to playoff success.
So the Wings reconfigured their lineup. In came agitating types such as Kirk Maltby, Tomas Sandstrom and Tomas Holmstrom. Suddenly, a trip to Detroit was no longer such a fun voyage and the Wings, though not nearly as flashy, won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.
A similar transition took place this year. With goaltender Dominik Hasek to protect them at the back end, Wings coach Mike Babcock altered Detroit from an up-tempo game to a more defense-minded, responsible, chip-and-chase system.
They no longer rolled out the welcome mat for the visitors at Joe Louis Arena. On defense, Danny Markov is an irritating presence. “Sleeper tough,” is how Wings forward Kyle Calder describes Markov. “He’s a wiry guy, but those are always the toughest. Different body physique. Same mentality.
“It’s not very forgiving to go to the net when he’s there.”
Up front, the trade deadline deals to acquire hulking Todd Bertuzzi and the rugged Calder didn’t sit too well with opposition rearguards.
“The thing they do is wear down another team’s defense,” Schneider said. “It may not happen in the first or second period, but by the time you get to the third and these guys are working the defense hard in front of the net and in the corners, it really starts to take a toll.
“I know from playing against them that they’re very hard to play against.”
No player in hockey is grittier in front of the net or more determined to retrieve a puck in the corner than Holmstrom.
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